Beach, Ronald

The footage relative to this report depicts conditions at Ronald Beach’s USDA licensed facility similar to those documented by a CAPS investigation on 4/1/05.

Raccoon cages There were about eight cages made entirely of untreated, rusting metal wire used to hold raccoons (3.125(a)-Structural strength). Most of the wire was thin and looked as though it could easily bend. Only one cage appeared to be made of a thicker gauge metal wire. The cages measured about two feet wide, five feet long, and two feet high. Each cage contained wooden boxes about two feet wide, two feet long, and two feet high. There were no windbreaks on these boxes (3.127(b)-Shelter from inclement weather). Most of these cages housed a single adult raccoon, though it evident from the footage that raccoon pups can be not only seen in one cage but heard in another two cages.

Several cages had wooden boards on the floors, and rusting metal sheets partially covered the cage tops (3.125(a)-Structural strength). Each cage had what appeared to be more than two to three weeks of fecal accumulation in and under it (3.131(a)-Sanitation). Metal dishes appeared to have a dingy build-up on their surfaces. A CAPS investigation on 4/1/05 found food and water dishes covered in dirt and algae. The dishes held water, and no food was evident in the cages at all (3.130-Watering) (3.129(a)-Feeding).

Fox and duck enclosures There were two enclosures in the facility, one holding a single fox and the other holding a duck and about a dozen ducklings. Each was a cylindrical cage made of thick, rusting wire with a dirty floor. The cages were about 15 feet in diameter and six feet high with a flat roof. Each cage had a one-foot-wide wooden pole extending from the floor to the roof in the middle of the cage. These appeared to be the cages that previously held bobcats (see CAPS investigation report 4/1/05). Wooden dog-houses were in each cylinder. They lacked windbreaks on their doorways (3.127(b)-Shelter from the inclement weather). Dirty water dishes and empty food dishes were on the pen floorings (3.130-Watering) (3.129(a)(b)-Feeding).

Badger cages Two cages made of thin-gauge, rusting metal wire (3.125(a)-Structural strength) each contained a badger. Like the raccoon cages, they were about two feet wide and tall and five feet long. The wooden boxes for shelter lacked windbreaks on their entrances (3.127(b)-Shelter from inclement weather). As with the raccoon cages, there were dirty metal dishes (see CAPS investigation report 4/1/05). The dishes held water, and no food was evident (3.130-Watering) (3.129(a)-Feeding). Two to three weeks worth of fecal accumulation was underneath the cages (3.131-Cleaning of enclosures).